:00:15. > :00:15.Hello. Welcome to The Week in Parliament.
:00:16. > :00:19.the Commons and the Lords fall out over the government's
:00:20. > :00:34.Last night unelected Labour and Liberal peers voted down the
:00:35. > :00:38.financial measures on tax credits approved by this elected House of
:00:39. > :00:39.Commons, which raises clear constitutional issues.
:00:40. > :00:42.Are we heading towards reform of the House of Lords?
:00:43. > :00:44.The Government asks Tory peer Lord Strathclyde to review
:00:45. > :00:50.It is clear the Government intends to give the House of Lords are
:00:51. > :00:51.kicking. And Labour MPs call for a statue
:00:52. > :00:54.in Parliament of former Peers threw
:00:55. > :00:57.down the gauntlet this week. On Monday, after four hours
:00:58. > :01:00.of debate, the Government was defeated when the Lords backed plans
:01:01. > :01:03.to delay cuts to tax credits. Ministers say the Lords have
:01:04. > :01:04.overstepped themselves and defeated the government
:01:05. > :01:07.on a finance matter - something they David Cameron has ordered a review
:01:08. > :01:12.of the powers of the House of Lords. The week's drama began in the Lords
:01:13. > :01:14.with the government defending This Government believes that
:01:15. > :01:24.as part of the overall package of measures that support working
:01:25. > :01:28.people, these changes to tax credits But with the amendments we are due
:01:29. > :01:33.to consider, there are broader About our role
:01:34. > :01:43.in scrutinising secondary legislation and the financial
:01:44. > :01:45.primacy of the other place. All three, those in the name
:01:46. > :01:51.of the noble Baroness's Lady Manzo, Lady Meacher and Lady Hollis,
:01:52. > :01:58.would, if agreed to, mean that this House has withheld its approval to
:01:59. > :02:03.the statutory instrument. The duty of your Lordship's House,
:02:04. > :02:06.as we know, is to enable governments to think again,
:02:07. > :02:08.if in our professional judgment they We can be supportive
:02:09. > :02:12.of the Government and give them what they did not ask for, financial
:02:13. > :02:20.privilege, all we can be supportive they did not ask for, financial
:02:21. > :02:22.privilege, or we can be supportive instead of those 3 million families
:02:23. > :02:25.facing letters at Christmas telling them on average they will lose
:02:26. > :02:30.up to around ?1300 a year. A letter which will take away 10%
:02:31. > :02:38.of their income on average. Last night,
:02:39. > :02:42.an elected Labour and Liberal peers Last night,
:02:43. > :02:44.unelected Labour and Liberal peers voted voted down the financial
:02:45. > :02:46.measures on tax credits approved That raises clear constitutional
:02:47. > :02:53.issues which we will deal with. That raises clear constitutional
:02:54. > :02:56.issues, which we will deal with. Does the Chancellor agree that
:02:57. > :03:04.whatever our views may be on this House on the tax credit dispute,
:03:05. > :03:13.in overturning the will of the elected chamber, the unelected Lords
:03:14. > :03:19.have exercised the powers of a chamber of Parliament
:03:20. > :03:21.in the tax area, where for at least a hundred years it has been
:03:22. > :03:32.well-established that they have and should have only the legitimacy
:03:33. > :03:39.of a consultative assembly. It is something we will have to
:03:40. > :03:42.address, the Prime Minister has made that very clear, and that is what we
:03:43. > :03:46.will do in order to make sure that the elected House of Commons is
:03:47. > :03:49.responsible for the tax and spend decisions affecting the people
:03:50. > :03:51.of this country. the Chancellor,
:03:52. > :03:53.if he brings forward proposals to reverse the cuts to tax credits
:03:54. > :03:57.fairly and in full, he will not be How much will the Chancellor saved
:03:58. > :04:01.from the public purse Now that is a very decent proposal
:04:02. > :04:07.for the Autumn Statement! Mr Speaker, following the events in
:04:08. > :04:10.the other place on Monday evening and the rather belated acceptance
:04:11. > :04:14.from the Prime Minister of the result there, can he now guarantee
:04:15. > :04:18.to the House and the wider country that nobody will be worse
:04:19. > :04:20.off next year as a result What I can guarantee is that we
:04:21. > :04:27.remain committed to the vision of a high pay, low tax,
:04:28. > :04:33.low welfare economy. Will he confirm right now that tax
:04:34. > :04:36.credit cuts will not make anyone What we want is
:04:37. > :04:47.for people to be better off because we are cutting their taxes
:04:48. > :04:51.and increasing their pay. The relationship between the Commons
:04:52. > :05:01.and Lords is extremely important, The relationship between the Commons
:05:02. > :05:03.and and when conventions that govern
:05:04. > :05:09.that relationship are put in doubt, It is clear that the Government
:05:10. > :05:14.intends to give the House of Lords a kicking, but it should remember,
:05:15. > :05:17.I think, as it fashions this present constitutional crisis, that the vast
:05:18. > :05:20.majority of people in this country I am sure
:05:21. > :05:23.the British public are just amazed and bewildered at this ermine
:05:24. > :05:25.handbags at dawn spat between the Tories and the unelected Lords,
:05:26. > :05:36.in this great battle of the nobles, and we on these benches are just
:05:37. > :05:41.hoping it is a double knockout blow. It is clear the Government intends
:05:42. > :05:43.to clip our wings. And less than six months into
:05:44. > :05:46.a new Parliament, the Government is trying to change the laws to ensure
:05:47. > :05:49.it won't lose a vote again. So Monday was the significant day
:05:50. > :05:55.for this House, and the events of Monday are what justifies
:05:56. > :05:56.the review. And it is punishing people who are
:05:57. > :05:58.going out there and trying to work and do
:05:59. > :06:02.the right thing, and that just does not sit right with me, so that is
:06:03. > :06:05.something I could not support. One can only think that because I
:06:06. > :06:09.don't think anybody in any party in this House would deliberately
:06:10. > :06:11.have impoverished the working poor. But we do of course acknowledge the
:06:12. > :06:16.concerns expressed in recent weeks. My Right Honourable Friend
:06:17. > :06:18.the Chancellor said we would listen, and that is precisely what we
:06:19. > :06:24.intend to do. Earlier this week,
:06:25. > :06:28.I spoke to former Lord Speaker Lady Hayman about what happened after the
:06:29. > :06:31.Lords voted to delay tax credit cuts Did the Lords overstep the mark,
:06:32. > :06:38.and are we now in the midst I think this is being talked
:06:39. > :07:00.up out of all proportion. It is very unusual to vote
:07:01. > :07:03.against a statutory instrument but not unknown, and it has been
:07:04. > :07:06.done when Labour was in Government and it has been done when the
:07:07. > :07:08.Conservatives were in Government. The argument is that because there
:07:09. > :07:12.is a lot of money involved in this, it should have been taken as what
:07:13. > :07:15.is now being called a financial measure, that is a term of art with
:07:16. > :07:18.no definition in Erskine May or anywhere else,
:07:19. > :07:22.and should be treated like the Finance Act is treated - when
:07:23. > :07:27.the Chancellor introduces his budget,
:07:28. > :07:29.he makes changes to taxation, so only the House of Commons should
:07:30. > :07:32.look at those measures. But this wasn't part of a
:07:33. > :07:37.Finance Act. We have had 13 SIs under
:07:38. > :07:44.the Tax Credits Act. This Government is now looking at
:07:45. > :07:47.the relationship between the House You have unique perspective
:07:48. > :07:50.as a former Lord Speaker. What would you
:07:51. > :07:59.like to see come out of it? Well, I would like a serious
:08:00. > :08:02.consideration of the issues. I think the Government is very
:08:03. > :08:04.angry, and it wants to punish the House of Lords, and I can
:08:05. > :08:08.understand why it is angry, because Some people think they ought to be
:08:09. > :08:15.very grateful because otherwise it would have
:08:16. > :08:18.turned into their poll tax, I would like to see
:08:19. > :08:24.a serious consideration of statutory instruments and how they
:08:25. > :08:27.are examined in both the Commons and the Lords, because suddenly, not
:08:28. > :08:32.suddenly, over time, we have started seeing statutory instruments
:08:33. > :08:35.used for very big policy things What are the other options
:08:36. > :08:41.for the Government? The Government talked very wildly
:08:42. > :08:43.at the beginning about suspending the House of Lords,
:08:44. > :08:53.flooding it, because it is all Now, to my mind, the House
:08:54. > :08:57.of Commons always gets its way. They are the elected House and they
:08:58. > :09:01.should have primacy, in, in They are the elected House and they
:09:02. > :09:04.should have primacy, in particular in financial matters, but
:09:05. > :09:07.the role of the House of Lords, when it feels strongly about something,
:09:08. > :09:10.is to ask the House of Commons to think again, and I think that is
:09:11. > :09:14.a very important role, I think the amount of support for what happened
:09:15. > :09:17.shows how important that is. There are 818 peers, so flooding the
:09:18. > :09:21.House of Lords with more would not Absolutely not, and some would say
:09:22. > :09:27.we have been flooded already. I think the real challenge is to
:09:28. > :09:39.reduce the size of the House of Lords and to look at
:09:40. > :09:41.Prime Ministerial patronage, to look at how the House of Lords
:09:42. > :09:44.should reflect the results There has been a convention that
:09:45. > :09:47.the Government should not have a political majority in the House
:09:48. > :09:50.of Lords, so it can be defeated, because that defeat is not fatal,
:09:51. > :09:54.in the end all we can do is delay. Now, you have talked plenty
:09:55. > :09:57.of times in the past about the House Where do you think the House will
:09:58. > :10:03.be in the next ten years time? Where do you think the House will
:10:04. > :10:07.be in the next ten years' time? I hope that we will have
:10:08. > :10:11.a smaller House. I hope that we will have a House
:10:12. > :10:16.where the appointments process is In a much more open and transparent
:10:17. > :10:24.way through a statutory appointments commission with criteria that are
:10:25. > :10:28.laid out so that all the criticism that is being made about how
:10:29. > :10:34.appointments come about, political That means we are going to
:10:35. > :10:43.have to reduce our numbers. I would certainly like to see by the
:10:44. > :10:46.next election the House of Lords Thank you very much indeed,
:10:47. > :10:53.Lady Hayman. More claims of foul play this week,
:10:54. > :11:01.as the chairman of the FA told Mps More claims of foul play this week,
:11:02. > :11:05.as the chairman of the FA told MPs he isn't surprised by comments
:11:06. > :11:07.from Sepp Blatter that a deal was made in advance to award
:11:08. > :11:10.Russia the 2018 World Cup. Mr Blatter is the suspended head
:11:11. > :11:17.of football's world governing body Fifa, and is under investigation
:11:18. > :11:20.for a payment he made to the Uefa He told a Russian news agency that
:11:21. > :11:24.Fifa's executive made Greg Dyke appeared
:11:25. > :11:27.before the Culture, Media and and Sport Committee and said
:11:28. > :11:31.the claim would be looked into. It looks like he wanted that
:11:32. > :11:38.before there was any, It looks like he wanted that
:11:39. > :11:41.before there was any vote, First of all I would like to read it
:11:42. > :11:47.again in more detail and then get my people to go through it, but it
:11:48. > :11:50.does look like he is suggesting that Greg Dyke told the MPs that Fifa had
:11:51. > :11:54.been a "corrupted organisation" And he said the FA had now suspended
:11:55. > :11:58.its backing for the Uefa president as its candidate
:11:59. > :12:01.to be the next head of FIFA. We have been impressed by Mr Platini
:12:02. > :12:06.in his time as president We are of the view that
:12:07. > :12:13.he has done a good job. We also have a good working
:12:14. > :12:15.relationship with Uefa, and we thought supporting the Uefa
:12:16. > :12:18.candidate would lead to a better As we have said on many occasions,
:12:19. > :12:37.the reform of Fifa is more potent to important to us than who is
:12:38. > :12:42.the new President. You will be supporting the reform
:12:43. > :12:45.candidate whoever that proves to be? The board of the FA will discuss who
:12:46. > :12:48.we should support, we don't have to We didn't nominate anybody,
:12:49. > :12:52.and we will make a decision close to the vote
:12:53. > :12:55.when we see who is left standing. If England was bidding
:12:56. > :12:58.in good faith in a process that was corrupt and Fifa officials knew it
:12:59. > :13:01.was corrupt, I think to ask them My view of Fifa is that it is
:13:02. > :13:06.a corrupted organisation and has Therefore not a lot
:13:07. > :13:11.of it surprises me. It has been suggested that the FA
:13:12. > :13:14.maybe start a new process in forming a new governing body
:13:15. > :13:18.whether it is for the Uefa nations Can you just clarify
:13:19. > :13:22.for this committee what discussions have you had, maybe in private or
:13:23. > :13:25.public, about setting up a new We haven't had any discussions to
:13:26. > :13:31.my knowledge. We obviously have chatted
:13:32. > :13:36.to one two people. We obviously have chatted
:13:37. > :13:38.to one or two people. Yes, but not discussions,
:13:39. > :13:41.just saying... It is almost like the Archers,
:13:42. > :13:51.like an everyday story, it is a soap opera, every week there
:13:52. > :13:55.is something new that comes out that you have never heard of,
:13:56. > :13:57.that you didn't know about. I mean who would have thought
:13:58. > :14:00.that the Germans would suddenly find themselves with the problem
:14:01. > :14:02.they have found themselves with? So these conversations,
:14:03. > :14:15.have you had conversations? With Association heads,
:14:16. > :14:25.even in the bar? I think you have had chats,
:14:26. > :14:28.that goes without saying, saying, And if you wanted my honest opinion,
:14:29. > :14:32.that would be, yes, you have to form something totally
:14:33. > :14:34.new and start again. That would be a good idea
:14:35. > :14:38.but that is not where we are. To try to get 209 football
:14:39. > :14:40.associations, of which, I think Mr Blatter said 130, 140,
:14:41. > :14:43.rely totally for their existence on Fifa money, to try to get them to
:14:44. > :14:46.actually read form the organisation Fifa money, to try to get them to
:14:47. > :14:49.actually reform the organisation Now, it's time for MPs to have
:14:50. > :14:54.a greater say on what gets debated That's the argument from veteran
:14:55. > :14:57.Labour MP and former chair of the Political and Constitutional
:14:58. > :14:59.Reform Committee, Graham Allen. Mr Allen wants to take Commons
:15:00. > :15:01.agenda-setting out of the Government's hands and give
:15:02. > :15:04.it to a House business committee. This week he forced a vote
:15:05. > :15:07.in the Commons on considering the proposal in the
:15:08. > :15:09.hope of opening it up to debate. Parliament is meant to hold
:15:10. > :15:15.government to account so it is very strange that the very
:15:16. > :15:19.body that his men to be held to We need to have
:15:20. > :15:29.a committee where members of Parliament, as backbenchers,
:15:30. > :15:32.are represented on their agenda setting committee rather than it
:15:33. > :15:34.being left to the government Mr Cameron said it was a good idea,
:15:35. > :15:40.Sir George Young, the Leader of But for some reason or another,
:15:41. > :15:46.the government seems reluctant to let go of the agenda and it
:15:47. > :15:48.maintains control of parliament. I want Parliament to be
:15:49. > :15:50.an independent institution, ultimately, and this is one small
:15:51. > :15:53.step on the way. Let's look at some of the offbeat
:15:54. > :16:00.stories around Westminster. An annual saving of ?80,000 could be
:16:01. > :16:13.made in Parliament by using paper instead of vellum for formally
:16:14. > :16:17.recording acts of Parliament, But calligrapher Patricia Lovett
:16:18. > :16:20.said... Vellum is derived from the Latin
:16:21. > :16:24.word vitulinum, The enquiry into
:16:25. > :16:28.the Iraq war should be published Sir John Chilcot set out
:16:29. > :16:33.the timetable in a letter to the Prime Minister David Cameron
:16:34. > :16:36.on the enquiry's website. National security checks will
:16:37. > :16:39.be done on the report which is The first female bishop took seat
:16:40. > :16:45.in the House of Lords this week. The Bishop of Gloucester, the right
:16:46. > :16:49.Reverend Rachel Treweek said ideally she would like a female to lead
:16:50. > :16:53.the world Anglicans in the future. A usually sombre chamber,
:16:54. > :16:56.here's broke into And those rounds of applause will
:16:57. > :17:04.be getting louder in the future. As our ermine-o-meter shows,
:17:05. > :17:07.the number of peers sitting More rough than tumble
:17:08. > :17:18.in Westminster as MPs and their canine friends battle it out for
:17:19. > :17:21.the annual dog of the year contest. Winner was Tory MP Andrea Jenkins
:17:22. > :17:28.with her schnauzer Lady and Godiva. Thankfully,
:17:29. > :17:42.both pooches kept their fur on. Labour MPs have called
:17:43. > :17:45.for a statue of the former party leader and Prime Minister,
:17:46. > :17:47.Harold Wilson, to be erected Next year marks the centenary
:17:48. > :17:51.of his birth. MPs said too often
:17:52. > :17:55.his many achievements had been Building new towns like
:17:56. > :18:00.Milton Keynes, building more housing than I think anyone has ever built
:18:01. > :18:03.in this can't treat before. That is something that I think
:18:04. > :18:06.we should remember Harold for. But if you want to know some
:18:07. > :18:09.of the other things he did that people should remember -
:18:10. > :18:13.the transformation of the culture. In terms
:18:14. > :18:17.of our attitude to homosexuality. Changing our attitudes to divorce
:18:18. > :18:25.and the rights of women in property. It is quite wrong that in the
:18:26. > :18:30.members' lobby, there is a small It is about time we honoured him
:18:31. > :18:36.with a full statue. It is time for a major revaluation
:18:37. > :18:39.of not so much Harold's reputation, his own personal achievements are
:18:40. > :18:44.fairly well-known, but the government of the time,
:18:45. > :18:47.it was a very fine administration. And I think that what might
:18:48. > :18:51.Honourable friend is leading up The minister could not promise
:18:52. > :18:57.a statue but paid tribute to The Harold Wilson, as Labour leader,
:18:58. > :19:02.one for the five general All current parliamentarians will
:19:03. > :19:07.appreciate what a genuine and truly magnificent achievement
:19:08. > :19:10.that was for any party leader. He was a social reformer,
:19:11. > :19:14.that has been referred to, I think he will largely be
:19:15. > :19:19.remembered for abolishing capital Looking at some
:19:20. > :19:23.of the other stories of the week. The issue of the so-called "tampon
:19:24. > :19:26.tax" on sanitary products will be MPs rejected the amendment
:19:27. > :19:31.in the Finance Bill which would have forced a negotiation with Brussels
:19:32. > :19:35.over the VAT rating. Female MPs and campaigners have been
:19:36. > :19:39.fighting for years to remove the VAT on tampons - pointing out that items
:19:40. > :19:43.like incontinence pads are exempt. The UK can't apply
:19:44. > :19:48.for a zero rating under EU law. Nonetheless,
:19:49. > :19:53.as this debate illustrates, there is very
:19:54. > :19:56.considerable cross-party support to To that end, I undertake to the
:19:57. > :20:04.House that I will raise this issue with the European Commission and
:20:05. > :20:07.other members states setting out the views reflected in this debate that
:20:08. > :20:11.it should be possible for a member state to apply zero rate to sanitary
:20:12. > :20:15.products. And in that context, may I thank
:20:16. > :20:18.the honourable member in raising I think we have seen a demonstration
:20:19. > :20:24.with the views of all sides of the House of the belief that they
:20:25. > :20:26.should be that flexibility. Every individual will now be
:20:27. > :20:30.required to sign up to the voting register, after the House of Lords
:20:31. > :20:34.failed to block moves to speed up The old "head of the household"
:20:35. > :20:39.method will be scrapped after the Government decided to switch to the
:20:40. > :20:44.new system by 1st December 2015. At a stroke, ministers are prepared
:20:45. > :20:49.and disenfranchised huge numbers It is highly likely that people who
:20:50. > :21:10.think they are on the register will find themselves
:21:11. > :21:15.unable to vote when the time comes. The core of what we are debating
:21:16. > :21:19.comes down to the accuracy Do we keep
:21:20. > :21:24.on the electoral registers ghost entries, entries who have moved
:21:25. > :21:29.house, died, or who may never even Are these ghost entries living,
:21:30. > :21:36.breating voters? As the noble Lord
:21:37. > :21:39.Tyler calls them. Or hundreds of thousands
:21:40. > :21:41.of database errors which need to be moved ahead of the
:21:42. > :21:44.next important elections next year? Job advisers are to be posted
:21:45. > :21:47.at food banks. Food banks provide free food to
:21:48. > :21:50.people in need who're given vouchers by job centre staff,
:21:51. > :21:53.social workers or doctors. The Trussell Trust,
:21:54. > :21:56.a main provider of food banks, put the number using food banks in
:21:57. > :22:00.the last year at over one million. Something that I am also trialling
:22:01. > :22:05.at the moment, which people will not be aware of, I haven't said anything
:22:06. > :22:08.about it before, I was visited either particular food bank before
:22:09. > :22:12.the summer break to talk about some of the issues
:22:13. > :22:15.about delivering food and some of the problems with individuals
:22:16. > :22:19.that turn up and say they have I am trialling, at the moment, the
:22:20. > :22:28.job advisor situated in themselves in the food bank for the time that
:22:29. > :22:34.the food bank is open stop we are already getting very strong feedback
:22:35. > :22:37.about that, where they will be able to check if somebody comes in
:22:38. > :22:41.and says, I haven't got a payment, If this works and other food banks
:22:42. > :22:47.are willing to encompass this, I think we would like to roll this
:22:48. > :22:51.out across the whole of the UK. Steelworkers marched on Parliament
:22:52. > :22:55.on Wednesday to make the case for political intervention
:22:56. > :22:57.in the steel industry. The Prime Minister updated MPs
:22:58. > :22:59.on what What we are doing to help the steel
:23:00. > :23:05.industry that I know is important to his constituents, and on energy
:23:06. > :23:08.costs, I can announce today that we will refund the energy intensive
:23:09. > :23:12.industries for the full amount of the policy costs they face
:23:13. > :23:16.as soon as we get the state aid I can confirm that payment will be
:23:17. > :23:21.made immediately and that payment will be made
:23:22. > :23:24.throughout this Parliament. Far more generous than what has been
:23:25. > :23:27.proposed by the party opposite. This subject, the Chagos Islands,
:23:28. > :23:38.but wait a minute, who is this? It is unusual to see a party
:23:39. > :23:42.leader in this debating chamber. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn
:23:43. > :23:45.wanted to make his point. I give way to the Leader
:23:46. > :23:48.of the Opposition. Firstly,
:23:49. > :23:53.I apologise for not being in full I am doing what I have condemned
:23:54. > :23:58.many others are doing, I declare an interest as
:23:59. > :24:03.the president of the Chagos Islands group and I declare an interest as a
:24:04. > :24:06.passionate advocate for the Chagos Do join me for the next
:24:07. > :24:14.Week In Parliament. Until then from me
:24:15. > :24:18.Georgina Pattinson, goodbye.